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Alan Garner was born in Congleton in Cheshire in October 1934. He was brought up on Alderley and now lives with his wife and family in a mediaeval timber-framed house near the Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope, between Congleton and Alderley. He says in his published biography that, while his ancestors on his father's side were skilled and steady people, his mother's side were 'gifted cranks'.